Russia: FSB foils Ukraine's plot to murder RT's Chief Editor
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has foiled a plot laid out by Ukraine's intelligence agency to target Russia Today (RT) International News TV Channel's Chief Editor Margarita Simonyan.
Simonyan and a journalist colleague of her, Ksenia Sobchak, were to be murdered in a Kiev plot carried out by its assets in the Neo-Nazi Paragraph-88 group, the FSB press office told TASS news agency in a statement on Saturday.
"The Federal Security Service jointly with the Investigative Committee and the Interior Ministry of Russia has foiled the assassination of Editor-in-Chief of RT TV Channel and Russia Today international news agency Margarita Simonyan plotted by Ukrainian special services. According to available data, the murder of Ksenia Sobchak was also plotted," FSB's press office said in the statement.
FSB officers detained members of the Neo-Nazi Paragraph-88 group in Moscow and the Ryazan Region who were stalking the targeted journalists at their work places and homes, it said, adding, "During investigative measures, they confirmed their plotting of the assassination attempt on an assignment from the Ukrainian Security Service for a reward of 1.5 million rubles for each murder."
Officers during investigation discovered a Kalashnikov assault rifle, 90 rounds of ammunition, knives, knuckle-dusters, rubber clubs, handcuffs, chevrons with Nazi insignia, Nazi literature, and also communications means and computers with information confirming their criminal intent, the FSB press office said.
"The Investigative Committee plans to institute criminal cases against the detained suspects on extremist and terrorist counts," the FSB said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has in the past condemed Ukrainian sabotage operation inside Russian as "terrorist" attacks.
Moscow launched its special military operation in Ukraine in late February 2022, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia cited two objectives for its military campaign in Donbas, “de-Nazifying” and "demilitarizing" the region.
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